Tbilisi, Georgia

Georgia still Perfumed by the Rose Revolution


earthworms
The VERY controversial buildings of the Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, in the middle of the Mtkvari (Kura) river valley, which runs through the middle of the city.
Faith Maneuvers
Against the whims of the wind, workers try to put up an Orthodox religious poster next to the Church of the Assumption in Metekhi.
For that Mtkvari above
Metekhi Church of the Assumption, perched on the high bank of the Mtkvari (Kura) river.
Faith, etc.
Believers light candles in the gilded interior of Metekhi Church of the Assumption.
Tbilisi Colors
Panoramic view of Tbilisi golden in autumn and with the river Mtkvari dividing it.
A Golden Freedom
The statue of São Jorge in the heart of Praça da Liberdade.
DIY in the heights
Two men repair the roof of a historic building near Tbilisi's sulfur baths.
simple figures
Visitors walk on top of Narikala Fortress, atop the slope of Sololoaki.
Vakhtang Gorgasali I
The statue of the founder of Tbilisi Vakhtang Gorgasali, prominent between the church of Metekhi and almost over the river Mtkvari.
Reverse direction
Child watches outsiders during a mass at Metekhi Church of the Assumption.
to the last light
Traffic travels up an elegant block in the Georgian capital.
Free time
Men play backgammon by the sulfur baths of Tbilisi.
Old Fashioned Houses
Historic terraced houses on the edge of the steep bank of the Mtkvari (Kura) river.
Santos & co.
Orthodox paintings adorning the interior of the church of the Assumption of Metekhi.
an undulating peace
The Bridge of Peace is also controversial over the Mtkvari, a work inaugurated in 2010, against intense contestation.
nose
The fortress of Narikala golden by the setting sun.
The Faith, etc. II
Faithful prays isolated in a corner of the church of the Assumption of Metekhi.
USSR (Soviet Urbanization in the Soviet Republics)
Large Soviet housing building detached above the city's historic houses.
Vakhtang Gorgasali 2
The statue of the founder of Tbilisi on a mystical night in the city.
In 2003, a popular political uprising made the sphere of power in Georgia tilt from East to West. Since then, the capital Tbilisi has not renounced its centuries of Soviet history, nor the revolutionary assumption of integrating into Europe. When we visit, we are dazzled by the fascinating mix of their past lives.

The weekend approaches and the religious authorities of the capital and Georgia prepare the area around the Church of the Assumption of Metekhi for the Orthodox celebrations at the end of the following day.

That morning, like a meteorological miracle, the gray and rainy atmosphere in which we had arrived had given way to an opposite one, limpid, with a blue and sunny sky to match.

The wind had increased since dawn. It annoyed city officials who struggled with huge iconographic posters intended for affixation atop the high wall next to the statue of the founding king of Tbilisi, Vakhtang Gorgasali.

Poster placement religios, Tbilisi, Georgia

Against the whims of the wind, workers try to put up an Orthodox religious poster next to the Church of the Assumption in Metekhi.

The posters avoided the final destination as if it were an encounter with the Devil. Only with astuteness and mechanical persistence, the men managed to dominate them, even so, before the end of the mass taking place in the mystic interior of the temple.

A voluminous priest in a black cassock and a long white beard draped over two huge hanging crucifixes leaves him just as we prepare to enter. Even in a hurry, he examines us from top to bottom and confirms that we would hardly be part of his flock.

A Mass in Good Orthodox Fashion

Inside, the dozens of candles that the faithful lit, accentuated a sacred gold. They generated the welcoming atmosphere in which they grew up praying, with the Bible or notebooks in their hands, or with a hopeful look at the images of Christ and the saints.

Believers in Metekhi Church of the Assumption, Tbilisi, Georgia

Believers light candles in the gilded interior of Metekhi Church of the Assumption.

The priest on duty resurfaces from the depths of the nave. He gathers the flock in front of him and resumes the religious service where he left it. One of your believers holds a child in her arms with her back to the altar. Intrigued by our photographic hustle, the baby stares at us for minutes on end, never complaining about the inverted conversion in which her mother kept her.

The scene we were looking at was part of Tbilisi as usual, but both the South Caucasus country and its secular capital have undergone recent sudden changes.

From the Soviet Legacy of Josef Stalin to the Rose Revolution

From 1921 to 1991, Georgia was part of the Soviet sphere. The most notorious and Machiavellian of Soviet leaders, Josef Stalin, had been a Georgian from Gori, originally named Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Eduard Shevardnadze, another Georgian, held the position of Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.

He was responsible for many of the important decisions of the presidency perestroikika by Mikhail Gorbachev. Unsurprisingly, four years after Georgian independence in December 1991, Shevardnadze won Georgia's second presidency. Another eight years passed.

The Georgian population grew fed up with what their nation was becoming, a virtually failed state. In November 2003, the Georgian people were completely saturated. He took to the streets in successive demonstrations gathered in front of the Tbilisi parliament.

Visitors walk on top of Narikala fortress, Tbilisi, Georgia

Visitors walk on top of Narikala Fortress, atop the slope of Sololoaki.

At one point, a group of protesters led by revolution leader Mikheil Saakashvili peacefully invaded parliament. Armed with roses, the speakers interrupted a speech by Eduard Shevardnadze.

The latter fled with his security guards, declared a State of Emergency and tried, in vain, to mobilize the armed forces and the police. He ended up announcing his resignation. Afterwards, a crowd of over XNUMX people celebrated the revolutionary success with fireworks and rock concerts.

In 2004, widespread support from USA, from several European countries and the self-proclaimed philanthropist tycoon George Soros and his Open Society Foundation, secured the election of Saakashvili as Georgia's third president.

A Prodigious Recovery with its Back to the Russia

Saakashvili immediately implemented policies of secession with the Russian sphere and of approximation to Western Europe. Despite several setbacks, spurred on by a strong expansion of the banking sector, the country's economy recovered and came into line, while the plague of corruption was mitigated.

The statue of the founder of Tbilisi Vakhtang Gorgasali, Tbilisi, Georgia

The statue of the founder of Tbilisi Vakhtang Gorgasali, prominent between the Metekhi church and almost over the Mtkvari river.

In the World Bank ranking, Georgia rose from 122nd country to 18th. For a long period, foreign investment remained at around three billion dollars and the country's annual growth was 9.5%.

This sudden escalation of prosperity did not make Georgians rich overnight, but it did generate long-awaited relief considering that, before the revolution, the official salary of a Georgian minister was $75.

The social openness and entrepreneurship thus generated continue to flourish in the old and elegant streets of Tbilisi. Soviet buildings maintain their place.

USSR Architectural Legacy vs New Controversial Buildings

We stayed in a hotel just above the parliament, so when we descend towards the centre, the successive columns of the massive building are the first architectural element of that era that assails us.

Many more are emerging, notably those at the current headquarters of the Bank of Georgia, once the Georgian Ministry of Highway Construction, completed in 1975, with a look of eccentric legos work.

The Soviet “monos” are, however, challenged by others more daring than many of the city's inhabitants wanted. This is the case of the new Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, in Rhike Park, a pair of tubular structures designed by the Italian couple Maximiano and Doriana Fuksas.

Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, Tbilisi, Georgia

The VERY controversial buildings of the Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, in the middle of the Mtkvari (Kura) river valley, which runs through the middle of the city.

Vladimir, the Armenian driver who at times seemed quite nostalgic for Soviet times, informs us that they called him “the worms” and that construction had been suspended.

For a long time after we discovered them, passersby continued to pass by, a little suspicious of the intentions of the “mouths” of “Aliens” in which the huge and invasive buildings ended.

The Bridge of Peace over the river mtkvari. The Possible Peace.

The Mtkvari River flows just ahead, along a valley that has carved out century after century. It is crossed by a bridge no less controversial. Despite its name, and like the Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, the Bridge of Peace has raised a wave of criticism from many quarters.

Bridge of Peace, Tbilisi, Georgia

The Bridge of Peace is also controversial over the Mtkvari, a work inaugurated in 2010, against intense contestation.

It generated accusations, in particular, of being too exuberant for the city's historic district and of obscuring its historic attractions. Nevertheless, friends and young couples, whether foreigners or city people, walk through it, delighted with the lighting that comes on as they pass and with the curvilinear shapes that they use to compose new ones. selfies.

The historic heart of Tbilisi rises from the other side of those who come from the “worm-occupied” bank of the Music Theater and Exhibition Hall. It stretches between the opposite bank and the steep slope of Sololoaki on which the fortress of Narikala stands.

The Ancient Core of Tbilisi. On either side of Mtkvari.

Its streets and alleys were shaped in times when they were home to a crossroads of Eurasian trade routes. They are bordered by medieval, classic, Art Nouveau buildings, even in this ancient area, also by some Stalinists and Modernists.

Narikala Fortress, Tbilisi, Georgia

The fortress of Narikala golden by the setting sun.

We took a cable car up to the heights of the fortress above. We leave the cabin at the foot of the silver statue Kartlis Deda, the Mother of Georgia from Soviet times, which overlooks the great city of the nation. From there, we admire the old, colorful and harmonious houses, “the worms” and the Ponte da Paz.

Also the church of Metekhi and the succession of historic terraced mansions perched on top of the high, steep bank of the river. And, a few meters behind, the facade of a hyperbolic Soviet building, unfolded in countless blue and white windows.

Tbilisi, Georgia Houses

Large Soviet housing building detached above the city's historic houses.

In the Old Town, bars, cafes, wine and craft houses, inns and even nightclubs multiplied, some businesses more picturesque than others, all with the same mission: to win the attention of backpackers who spread the fame of Tbilisi, proclaimed without ceremonies, the most open and dynamic of the capitals of the Caucasus.

Tamara Giorgadze and the Highs and Lows of Georgian Independence

Still, much has changed again. The economy stopped growing at the levels of the years following the revolution. With the deceleration in the middle of the capitalist model, individualism and greed increased as well as unemployment and general instability in the lives of Georgians. Tamara Giorgadze was born in Tbilisi in 1985 and is our host in her town.

Tbilisi, Georgia Homes

Two men repair the roof of a historic building near Tbilisi's sulfur baths.

He explains to us that a certain nostalgia has gripped the generations of his parents and grandparents. “Look at the difference: my father is from a village in western Georgia, he came here to study. He got a house in Tbilisi, but as the regime only allowed one house per family, he and my mother got divorced so they could have one house each.

Older people enjoy life now and find them yearning for the Soviet Union. Most even continue to respect the Stalin. At that time, they had their money but could not spend it because there was nothing to buy.

When I was little, caramels came to us from time to time from Turkey. It was so rare that it almost felt like Christmas to us. My generation and I already see things differently. As long as there is money, we can buy everything but the average salary is still only 350 or 400€.

The Church of the Assumption of Metekhi, Tbilisi, Georgia

Metekhi Church of the Assumption, perched on the high bank of the Mtkvari (Kura) river.

You can see what we need to evolve... Anyway, in Georgia, nothing will ever be easy, let alone guaranteed. We are a small country but we are in a strategic place that has plenty. Everyone wants to control us.”

The Baths and Georgian Wine. Two Valuable Attributes of Tbilisi.

We descended from the fortress that so often ensured Tbilisi's resistance to its foothills. We detected a more obvious Muslim influence in the Jumah mosque, from which its lush brick minaret stood out.

At the base, a cluster of men accompanies two others who face off in a game of backgammon played on a wall of the city's historic thermal baths, where both residents and travellers-traders have become accustomed to relaxing.

Backgammon Game, Tbilisi, Georgia

Men play backgammon by the sulfur baths of Tbilisi.

The sulfur and the orbeliani remain, the latter closer to the foot of the slope that housed the fortress and to the waterfall of sulfur Dzveli that flows from it. An additional building brings together the public baths. In the old-fashioned way, it forces patrons to separate according to gender.

It is already rare in Tbilisi where, in an increasingly less regimented way, lovers show their passion without great moral restrictions, inspired by the most avid wine stimuli in the Caucasus. Georgia takes seriously its claim that it is the world's cradle of wine production.

In line with this, cellars and wine houses that sell and offer the best nectars in the country have spread throughout Tbilisi. But if wine is the product of choice on the streets of Metekhi, others are displayed with equal zeal and pride. The fruit in general, the grapes in particular, when in season.

Throughout the year, the colored churcchela, a curious derivative of both. When we first saw them, we thought they were church candles. Until Tamara enlightened us and we made a point of trying them out.

A kind of fluted sausage, the shape of that famous Georgian sweet is made with a mixture of grape juice and flour. It involves a delicious nut filling.

A Mystical Procession of the Old Orthodox Faith

we buy some churkhalas already about dusk. We continue along Betlemi Street, again pointing to the area of ​​the church of Metekhi and the huge Plaza de Europa that, on the other side of the river, announces it.

As we approached, the religious procession that we had seen being prepared was in full swing and cluttered the stone bridge. The protagonists were believers in picturesque Orthodox costumes who, by candlelight, sang liturgical litanies.

As much as Georgia and Tbilisi changed (for better or for worse), a good part of Georgians will always be able to find the comfort of its ancient tradition and religiosity.

Statue of Vakhtang Gorgasali, Tbilisi, Georgia

The statue of the founder of Tbilisi on a mystical night in the Georgian capital.

Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Kazbegi, Georgia

God in the Caucasus Heights

In the 4000th century, Orthodox religious took their inspiration from a hermitage that a monk had erected at an altitude of 5047 m and perched a church between the summit of Mount Kazbek (XNUMXm) and the village at the foot. More and more visitors flock to these mystical stops on the edge of Russia. Like them, to get there, we submit to the whims of the reckless Georgia Military Road.
Alaverdi, Armenia

A Cable Car Called Ensejo

The top of the Debed River Gorge hides the Armenian monasteries of Sanahin and Haghpat and terraced Soviet apartment blocks. Its bottom houses the copper mine and smelter that sustains the city. Connecting these two worlds is a providential suspended cabin in which the people of Alaverdi count on traveling in the company of God.
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Armenia

The Cradle of the Official Christianity

Just 268 years after Jesus' death, a nation will have become the first to accept the Christian faith by royal decree. This nation still preserves its own Apostolic Church and some of the oldest Christian temples in the world. Traveling through the Caucasus, we visit them in the footsteps of Gregory the Illuminator, the patriarch who inspires Armenia's spiritual life.
Upplistsikhe e Gori, Georgia

From the Cradle of Georgia to Stalin's Childhood

In the discovery of the Caucasus, we explore Uplistsikhe, a troglodyte city that preceded Georgia. And just 10km away, in Gori, we find the place of the troubled childhood of Joseb Jughashvili, who would become the most famous and tyrant of Soviet leaders.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan

The Astronomer Sultan

The grandson of one of the great conquerors of Central Asia, Ulugh Beg, preferred the sciences. In 1428, he built a space observatory in Samarkand. His studies of the stars led him to name a crater on the Moon.
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
Khiva, Uzbequistan

The Silk Road Fortress the Soviets Velved

In the 80s, Soviet leaders renewed Khiva in a softened version that, in 1990, UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site. The USSR disintegrated the following year. Khiva has preserved its new luster.
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Samarkand, Uzbequistan

A Monumental Legacy of the Silk Road

In Samarkand, cotton is the most traded commodity and Ladas and Chevrolets have replaced camels. Today, instead of caravans, Marco Polo would find Uzbekistan's worst drivers.
Aral Sea, Uzbequistan

The Lake that Cotton Absorbed

In 1960, the Aral Sea was one of the four largest lakes in the world. Irrigation projects dried up much of the water and fishermen's livelihoods. In return, the USSR flooded Uzbekistan with vegetable white gold.
savuti, botswana, elephant-eating lions
Safari
Savuti, Botswana

Savuti's Elephant-Eating Lions

A patch of the Kalahari Desert dries up or is irrigated depending on the region's tectonic whims. In Savuti, lions have become used to depending on themselves and prey on the largest animals in the savannah.
Thorong Pedi to High Camp, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Lone Walker
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 12th - Thorong Phedi a High camp

The Prelude to the Supreme Crossing

This section of the Annapurna Circuit is only 1km away, but in less than two hours it takes you from 4450m to 4850m and to the entrance to the great canyon. Sleeping in High Camp is a test of resistance to Mountain Evil that not everyone passes.
Sheets of Bahia, Eternal Diamonds, Brazil
Architecture & Design
Sheets of Bahia, Brazil

Lençóis da Bahia: not Even Diamonds Are Forever

In the XNUMXth century, Lençóis became the world's largest supplier of diamonds. But the gem trade did not last as expected. Today, the colonial architecture that he inherited is his most precious possession.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Adventure
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Conflicted Way
Ceremonies and Festivities
Jerusalem, Israel

Through the Belicious Streets of Via Dolorosa

In Jerusalem, while traveling the Via Dolorosa, the most sensitive believers realize how difficult the peace of the Lord is to achieve in the most disputed streets on the face of the earth.
Mao Tse Tung, Dragon Heart, Tianamen Square, Beijing, China
Cities
Beijing, China

The Heart of the Great Dragon

It is the incoherent historic center of Maoist-Communist ideology and almost all Chinese aspire to visit it, but Tianamen Square will always be remembered as a macabre epitaph of the nation's aspirations.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Meal
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
Vairocana Buddha, Todai ji Temple, Nara, Japan
Culture
Nara, Japan

The Colossal Cradle of the Japanese Buddhism

Nara has long since ceased to be the capital and its Todai-ji temple has been demoted. But the Great Hall remains the largest ancient wooden building in the world. And it houses the greatest bronze Vairocana Buddha.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Gothic couple
Traveling

Matarraña to Alcanar, Spain (España)

A Medieval Spain

Traveling through the lands of Aragon and Valencia, we come across towers and detached battlements of houses that fill the slopes. Mile after kilometer, these visions prove to be as anachronistic as they are fascinating.

Moa on a beach in Rapa Nui/Easter Island
Ethnic
Easter Island, Chile

The Take-off and Fall of the Bird-Man Cult

Until the XNUMXth century, the natives of Easter Island they carved and worshiped great stone gods. All of a sudden, they started to drop their moai. The veneration of tanatu manu, a half-human, half-sacred leader, decreed after a dramatic competition for an egg.
Portfolio, Got2Globe, Best Images, Photography, Images, Cleopatra, Dioscorides, Delos, Greece
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

The Earthly and the Celestial

Saint George, Grenada, Antilles, houses
History
Saint George, Granada

A Caribbean History Detonation

The peculiar Saint George spreads along the slope of an inactive volcano and around a U-shaped cove. Its abundant and undulating houses attest to the wealth generated over the centuries on the island of Grenada, of which it is the capital.
PN Timanfaya, Mountains of Fire, Lanzarote, Caldera del Corazoncillo
Islands
PN Timanfaya, Lanzarote, Canary Islands

PN Timanfaya and the Fire Mountains of Lanzarote

Between 1730 and 1736, out of nowhere, dozens of volcanoes in Lanzarote erupted successively. The massive amount of lava they released buried several villages and forced almost half of the inhabitants to emigrate. The legacy of this cataclysm is the current Martian setting of the exuberant PN Timanfaya.
Maksim, Sami people, Inari, Finland-2
Winter White
Inari, Finland

The Guardians of Boreal Europe

Long discriminated against by Scandinavian, Finnish and Russian settlers, the Sami people regain their autonomy and pride themselves on their nationality.
shadow vs light
Literature
Kyoto, Japan

The Kyoto Temple Reborn from the Ashes

The Golden Pavilion has been spared destruction several times throughout history, including that of US-dropped bombs, but it did not withstand the mental disturbance of Hayashi Yoken. When we admired him, he looked like never before.
Cape cross seal colony, cape cross seals, Namibia
Nature
Cape Cross, Namíbia

The Most Turbulent of the African Colonies

Diogo Cão landed in this cape of Africa in 1486, installed a pattern and turned around. The immediate coastline to the north and south was German, South African, and finally Namibian. Indifferent to successive transfers of nationality, one of the largest seal colonies in the world has maintained its hold there and animates it with deafening marine barks and endless tantrums.
Natural Parks
Boat Trips

For Those Becoming Internet Sick

Hop on and let yourself go on unmissable boat trips like the Philippine archipelago of Bacuit and the frozen sea of ​​the Finnish Gulf of Bothnia.
Seljalandsfoss Escape
UNESCO World Heritage
Iceland

The Island of Fire, Ice and Waterfalls

Europe's supreme cascade rushes into Iceland. But it's not the only one. On this boreal island, with constant rain or snow and in the midst of battle between volcanoes and glaciers, endless torrents crash.
now from above ladder, sorcerer of new zealand, Christchurch, new zealand
Characters
Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand's Cursed Wizard

Despite his notoriety in the antipodes, Ian Channell, the New Zealand sorcerer, failed to predict or prevent several earthquakes that struck Christchurch. At the age of 88, after 23 years of contract with the city, he made very controversial statements and ended up fired.
Mangrove between Ibo and Quirimba Island-Mozambique
Beaches
Ibo Island a Quirimba IslandMozambique

Ibo to Quirimba with the Tide

For centuries, the natives have traveled in and out of the mangrove between the island of Ibo and Quirimba, in the time that the overwhelming return trip from the Indian Ocean grants them. Discovering the region, intrigued by the eccentricity of the route, we follow its amphibious steps.
Cambodia, Angkor, Ta Phrom
Religion
Ho Chi Minh a of Angkor, Cambodia

The Crooked Path to Angkor

From Vietnam onwards, Cambodia's crumbling roads and minefields take us back to the years of Khmer Rouge terror. We survive and are rewarded with the vision of the greatest religious temple
Back in the sun. San Francisco Cable Cars, Life Ups and Downs
On Rails
San Francisco, USA

San Francisco Cable Cars: A Life of Highs and Lows

A macabre wagon accident inspired the San Francisco cable car saga. Today, these relics work as a charm operation in the city of fog, but they also have their risks.
Police intervention, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
Society
Jaffa, Israel

Unorthodox protests

A building in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, threatened to desecrate what ultra-Orthodox Jews thought were remnants of their ancestors. And even the revelation that they were pagan tombs did not deter them from the contestation.
Fruit sellers, Swarm, Mozambique
Daily life
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Hippopotamus in Anôr Lagoon, Orango Island, Bijagós, Guinea Bissau
Wildlife
Kéré Island to Orango, Bijagos, Guinea Bissau

In Search of the Lacustrine-Marine and Sacred Bijagós Hippos

They are the most lethal mammals in Africa and, in the Bijagós archipelago, preserved and venerated. Due to our particular admiration, we joined an expedition in their quest. Departing from the island of Kéré and ending up inland from Orango.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.